" 'Individual conscience' means that women only get contraceptives if their employers, their physicians, their pharmacists, their husbands and/or fathers, pastors, and possibly their mayors, Governors, State Secretaries of Health, Congressmen, Senators, and President all agree that in that particular case they're justifiable." --D.C. Sessions

"That's the problem with being implacable foes - no one has any incentive to treat you as anything more than an obstacle to be overcome."

"The 'Road to Serfdom' is really all right turns." --Progressive Whisperer

""The GOP ... where every accusation is also a confession." --Progressive Whisperer

" 'Individual conscience' means that women only get contraceptives if their employers, their physicians, their pharmacists, their husbands and/or fathers, pastors, and possibly their mayors, Governors, State Secretaries of Health, Congressmen, Senators, and President all agree that in that particular case they're justifiable." --D.C. Sessions

"That's the problem with being implacable foes - no one has any incentive to treat you as anything more than an obstacle to be overcome."

"The 'Road to Serfdom' is really all right turns." --Progressive Whisperer

""The GOP ... where every accusation is also a confession." --Progressive Whisperer

"Men occasionally stumble over the truth, but most of them pick themselves up and hurry off as if nothing had happened."-- Winston Churchill"Anyone who has the power to make you believe absurdities has the power to make you commit injustices" Voltaire

Good thing I read the quote above your comment that said "this is just too rich." For a second I thought you were referring to Baw's comment about "Deep Throat".

" 'Individual conscience' means that women only get contraceptives if their employers, their physicians, their pharmacists, their husbands and/or fathers, pastors, and possibly their mayors, Governors, State Secretaries of Health, Congressmen, Senators, and President all agree that in that particular case they're justifiable." --D.C. Sessions

"That's the problem with being implacable foes - no one has any incentive to treat you as anything more than an obstacle to be overcome."

"The 'Road to Serfdom' is really all right turns." --Progressive Whisperer

""The GOP ... where every accusation is also a confession." --Progressive Whisperer

WaPo reports that Flynn lied to the FBI last month with regard to his conversations with the Russian Minister. Conversations they have on tape. Lying to the FBI is a federal crime, which Scooter Libby could have told him.

WASHINGTON—The Pentagon hasn’t found any documents indicating that Mike Flynn received authorization to accept money from a foreign government before traveling to Moscow in 2015 for a paid Russian state TV event, according to a letter from the acting Secretary of the Army.
The Pentagon finding came after lawmakers raised questions about whether the former White House national security adviser and retired U.S. Army general violated Pentagon rules that require retired officers to report income from foreign states.
Mr. Flynn accepted an invitation to Moscow in late 2015 to give a paid, sit-down interview with Russian state television network RT and to attend the channel’s 10-year anniversary gala, where he sat beside President Vladimir Putin.
...

The Trump administration is considering a proposal to mobilize as many as 100,000 National Guard troops to round up unauthorized immigrants, including millions living nowhere near the Mexico border, according to a draft memo obtained by The Associated Press.

The 11-page document calls for the unprecedented militarization of immigration enforcement as far north as Portland, Oregon, and as far east as New Orleans, Louisiana.

Four states that border on Mexico are included in the proposal — California, Arizona, New Mexico and Texas — but it also encompasses seven states contiguous to those four — Oregon, Nevada, Utah, Colorado, Oklahoma, Arkansas and Louisiana.

White House spokesman Sean Spicer said the AP report was "100 percent not true" and "irresponsible." ''There is no effort at all to utilize the National Guard to round up unauthorized immigrants," he said.

Governors in the 11 states would have a choice whether to have their guard troops participate, according to the memo, written by U.S. Homeland Security Secretary John Kelly, a retired four-star Marine general.

"Men occasionally stumble over the truth, but most of them pick themselves up and hurry off as if nothing had happened."-- Winston Churchill"Anyone who has the power to make you believe absurdities has the power to make you commit injustices" Voltaire

I wonder how much per head that would cost, assuming any state would participate. Also, how exactly would this work without running afoul of the courts? Seems like a ton of constitutional questions would need to be answered to the courts first.

Quit being sensible. The fact that it is still being considered seriously by those bozos is quite remarkable.

"Men occasionally stumble over the truth, but most of them pick themselves up and hurry off as if nothing had happened."-- Winston Churchill"Anyone who has the power to make you believe absurdities has the power to make you commit injustices" Voltaire

Harward walks away from being Flynn's replacement. There seem to be two different stories circulating. The first was that he did it for "personal reasons". Since his name has been floated since Flynn's resignation and he could have pulled himself out of consideration as soon as his name came up, I'm not buying it.

Quote

Mr Harward told the Associated Press the Trump administration was "very accommodating to my needs, both professionally and personally".

"It's purely a personal issue," added the 60-year-old former Navy Seal who is currently based in Abu Dhabi as an executive for US defence contractor Lockheed Martin.

Asked about reports that he had asked to bring in his own staff at the National Security Council, Mr Harward said: "I think that's for the president to address."

Retired Vice Adm. Robert Harward has rejected President Donald Trump’s offer to serve as national security advisor after the White House reportedly refused his request to pick his own team, dealing an embarrassing setback to the administration.

The former Navy SEAL’s decision to turn down the prestigious job highlights how Trump’s chief strategist, Stephen Bannon, has entrenched himself as a powerful figure in the White House, wielding influence over every aspect of decision-making.

In one of the president’s first executive orders after taking the oath of office on Jan. 20, Bannon — with no experience in government and an isolationist, anti-internationalist agenda — was granted a permanent seat on the National Security Council. The order was an unprecedented move for a body that is supposed to steer clear of political considerations.

In any other White House, Harward’s request to have a say over who served on his staff would have been routine, former officials said. But Trump and his aides have been deeply reluctant to delegate power to outsiders who have no ties to the president’s election campaign.

[snip]
But former officials familiar with the matter said Harward had set conditions that would allow him to select who would serve as his deputy or possibly other senior positions in the NSC. The current National Security Council is populated by several former military officers handpicked by Flynn and Harward asked for the flexibility to decide who he would keep on. One of the sticking points reportedly was over K.T. McFarland, the current deputy national security advisor, who Harward wanted to replace — but the White House resisted.

Former officials from the Obama and Bush administrations said morale was already low in the National Security Council even before Flynn’s departure, as many staff members felt their work was being ignored or marginalized by political advisors who harbor a distrust of career civil servants. They said the episode drove home Bannon’s heavyweight status in the White House and how Trump trusted his political advisors above all.

The failure to close the deal with Harward shows “that the president prefers a national security process with disparate power centers so that he’s not overly reliant on anyone, gets divergent views, has political calculations central to his national security policies, and sustains a high level of unpredictability about what he’ll decide,” said Kori Schake, who served on the National Security Council during the Bush administration and is now a research fellow at Stanford University’s Hoover Institution (and a FP contributor).

It also illustrated how Trump “continues to rely most heavily on his political advisors for national security counsel,” she said.

" 'Individual conscience' means that women only get contraceptives if their employers, their physicians, their pharmacists, their husbands and/or fathers, pastors, and possibly their mayors, Governors, State Secretaries of Health, Congressmen, Senators, and President all agree that in that particular case they're justifiable." --D.C. Sessions

"That's the problem with being implacable foes - no one has any incentive to treat you as anything more than an obstacle to be overcome."

"The 'Road to Serfdom' is really all right turns." --Progressive Whisperer

""The GOP ... where every accusation is also a confession." --Progressive Whisperer

Just four weeks into his term, 56 percent of Americans disapprove of the job Donald Trump is doing as President, according to a Gallup's daily poll released Friday.

It's the highest disapproval for Trump to date in the Gallup survey.

Gallup averages survey results from the previous three days. Through Thursday, the most recent numbers available, 56 percent of respondents disapproved of Trump's performance, while just 38 percent approved.

That’s an 18 percent net drop since the poll started tracking the new President's numbers. Trump started, on Jan. 22, with his approval and disapproval numbers tied at 45 percent, according to Gallup.

" 'Individual conscience' means that women only get contraceptives if their employers, their physicians, their pharmacists, their husbands and/or fathers, pastors, and possibly their mayors, Governors, State Secretaries of Health, Congressmen, Senators, and President all agree that in that particular case they're justifiable." --D.C. Sessions

"That's the problem with being implacable foes - no one has any incentive to treat you as anything more than an obstacle to be overcome."

"The 'Road to Serfdom' is really all right turns." --Progressive Whisperer

""The GOP ... where every accusation is also a confession." --Progressive Whisperer

Trump, as stated in his unhinged presser this week, "inherited a mess" Not quite, Pumpkin.

Every woman needs a blowtorch.
---Julia Child

--- On September 17, 1787, as Benjamin Franklin was leaving the deliberations of the Constitutional Convention, at Independence Hall, in Philadelphia, a woman called out to him, saying, “Well, Doctor, what have we got, a republic or a monarchy?”“A republic,” Franklin said, “if you can keep it.”

--- LFC, on Gorsuch ruling: "Awesome. A Christianist who swore an oath to uphold the laws of the nation and bore false witness when he did it"

Trump, as stated in his unhinged presser this week, "inherited a mess" Not quite, Pumpkin.

It's standard Republicanism. They take credit for things if they go well and blame them on the Dems if they go south.

" 'Individual conscience' means that women only get contraceptives if their employers, their physicians, their pharmacists, their husbands and/or fathers, pastors, and possibly their mayors, Governors, State Secretaries of Health, Congressmen, Senators, and President all agree that in that particular case they're justifiable." --D.C. Sessions

"That's the problem with being implacable foes - no one has any incentive to treat you as anything more than an obstacle to be overcome."

"The 'Road to Serfdom' is really all right turns." --Progressive Whisperer

""The GOP ... where every accusation is also a confession." --Progressive Whisperer

Another arm of the government heading for complete chaos at Tillerson has apparently decided abrupt changes are a good thing in the department dealing with ongoing relations with other countries: http://www.cnn.com/2...keup/index.html

Well we do know the crazifcation factor (alternatively known as the "Keyes constant") is at 27%.This number was derived by blogger John Rogers and based on the 2004 Senate election in Illinois between Barack Obama and Alan Keyes.Keyes was from out of state, so you can eliminate any established political base; both candidates were black, so you can factor out racism; and Keyes was plainly, obviously, completely crazy. Batshit crazy. Head-trauma crazy. But 27% of the population of Illinois voted for him. They put party identification, personal prejudice, whatever ahead of rational judgement. Hell, even like 5% of Democrats voted for him. That's crazy behaviour. I think you have to assume a 27% crazification factor in any population.

"Men occasionally stumble over the truth, but most of them pick themselves up and hurry off as if nothing had happened."-- Winston Churchill"Anyone who has the power to make you believe absurdities has the power to make you commit injustices" Voltaire

Several White House staffers were dismissed Thursday morning after failing FBI background checks, according to sources familiar with the matter.

Some of the aides were "walked out of the building by security" on Wednesday after not passing the SF86, a Questionnaire for National Security Positions for security clearance.

Among those who won't be working at the White House was President Donald Trump’s director of scheduling, Caroline Wiles, the daughter of Susan Wiles, Trump’s Florida campaign director and former campaign manager for Governor Rick Scott. Wiles, who resigned Friday before the background check was completed, was appointed deputy assistant secretary before the inauguration in January. Two sources close to Wiles said she will get another job in Treasury.

She's among others who failed to pass the intensive background check, which includes questions on the applicant's credit score, substance use and other personal subjects.

A White House spokesperson did not respond to a request for comment.

" 'Individual conscience' means that women only get contraceptives if their employers, their physicians, their pharmacists, their husbands and/or fathers, pastors, and possibly their mayors, Governors, State Secretaries of Health, Congressmen, Senators, and President all agree that in that particular case they're justifiable." --D.C. Sessions

"That's the problem with being implacable foes - no one has any incentive to treat you as anything more than an obstacle to be overcome."

"The 'Road to Serfdom' is really all right turns." --Progressive Whisperer

""The GOP ... where every accusation is also a confession." --Progressive Whisperer

Good thing I read the quote above your comment that said "this is just too rich." For a second I thought you were referring to Baw's comment about "Deep Throat".

Friday!

Pray for Trump: Psalm 109:8

"Science is more than a body of knowledge; it is a way of thinking. I have a foreboding of an America in my children's or grandchildren's time - when the United States is a service and information economy; when nearly all the key manufacturing industries have slipped away to other countries; when awesome technological powers arc in the hands of a very few, and no one representing the public interest can even grasp the issues; when the people have lost the ability to set their own agendas or knowledgeably question those in authority; when, clutching our crystals and nervously consulting our horoscopes, our critical faculties in decline, unable to distinguish between what feels good and what's true, we slide, almost without noticing, back into superstition and darkness.”

— Carl Sagan
The Demon-Haunted World: Science as a Candle in the Dark
1995

“As democracy is perfected, the office of president represents, more and more closely, the inner soul of the people. On some great and glorious day the plain folks of the land will reach their heart's desire at last and the White House will be adorned by a downright moron.”

— H.L. Mencken
On Politics: A Carnival of Buncombe

“The test of our progress is not whether we add more to the abundance of those who have much; it is whether we provide enough for those who have too little.”